Partial Quotients And Multi-Digit Decimal Division

Description

Topic G uses the knowledge students have accumulated about whole number division with double-digit divisors and extends it to division of decimals by double-digit divisors (5.NBT.7). Parallels between sharing or grouping whole number units and sharing or grouping decimal units are the emphasis of Topic G.

Students quickly surmise that the concepts of division remain the same regardless of the size of the units being shared or grouped. Placement of the decimal point in quotients is based on students’ reasoning about when wholes are being shared or grouped and when the part being shared or grouped transitions into fractional parts. Students reason about remainders in a deeper way than in previous grades. Students consider cases in which remainders expressed as whole numbers appear to be equivalent; however, equivalence is disproven when such remainders are decomposed as decimal units and shared or grouped.